A new 2013 LEAF-S wearing metalic slate exterior paint and black interior with a total of 180 miles (290 km) on the odometer was tested today for range autonomy. The car arrived at the Blink charging station at 13520 Evening Creek Drive North, San Diego to top off the car to 100%. The car had started from the owner's house about 8 miles away where it had been charged to 100% and left for 6 hours to allow the automation to balance the 96 cell pairs.

I estimated that the 3.3/3.8kW 16 amp charger would take about 45 minutes to charge back to 100%. Unfortunately, the Blink charging station stopped in only 8 minutes. It is not unusual that a Blink would fail as they very frequently do and fortunately, there was another nearby unit that did work. I plugged the car into the second charging station and it operated for 49 minutes.

At 100kmh ground speed, it was estimated that this would yield a target energy usage rate of 4 miles (250 watts per mile) or 6.437 km per kWh (155 watts per km) without climate control. Based on Nissan’s published official range data from Nissan Technical Bulletin NTB11-076a, it was determined that a new car would travel 84 miles (135 km) until “turtle” mode (a reduced power mode to safely get the vehicle off the road before the battery disengages power altogether). This data is also consistent with extensive independent testing, both by myself and many others.

The car had two occupants for the test, both the owner Bob and myself. The combined total crew weight was 450 pounds (205 kg). The weather was absolutely perfect for the event with close to 70F (21C) degree weather, clear blue skies and light easterly breezes. In short, another perfect day in San Diego. Of course, thanks to a change in the 2013 LEAF, we were able to run the climate control fan without powering the heater or air conditioner pump, which we did.

The letter "H" icon in the photo below is the planned start and stop location:

The elevation profile of the route:

Both trip odometers, miles/kWh, average speed, timers, etc., were reset by the disconnect of the 12 volt battery earlier. Headlights were off, climate control off (except fan) and tires set to 36 pounds per square inch (2.48 bars) pressure.

A stored energy display meter (Gidmeter) was installed. A new LEAF in optimum condition will show 281 units reported by the LEAF’s automation, for a total of 281 x 80 watt hours per unit = 22.48 kWh stored in the battery. This value, referred to in the LEAF community as “Gids”, is alternately displayed as a percentage of 281 (281 would equal 100%). Of the 22.48kWh stored, the LEAF has 21 kWh available to use to propel the car and operate it's various systems, therefore at 4 miles (6.437 km) per kWh of economy multiplied by the 21 kWh available will equal 84 miles (135 km) of range autonomy. The LEAF battery has an advertised capacity of 24 kWh.

The fuel capacity gauge segments were observed to be 12 of 12 illuminated, as were the battery capacity segments. The dash display of State Of Charge (SOC) showed 100%. Battery temperature segments displayed both 5 and 6 bars, indicating temperatures between approximately 50F (10C) to 74F (23C) for the 5th bar and 74F (23C) to 98F (37C) for the 6th bar, per Nissan service manual documents. The bottom line is that the battery was likely very close to 74F (23C). Finally, the “Distance to Empty” meter, known amongst LEAF owners as the "Guess-Oh-Meter" (GOM), was observed displaying 84 miles. The Gidmeter first showed 279, then 280 as we got underway.

We got underway around 2pm due to several problems with the car. First, it would not recognize the key, nor go to READY mode. Also, it kept referring to operating the parking brake on the dash display. I decided to do a reset of the computer with a disconnect of the negative lead of the 12 volt battery. The car then did turn on properly, however it would not stay in Drive; it kept popping into Neutral.

I was ready to give up and consign myself to just driving to the dealer for repairs, but it finally stayed in Drive. Subsequently, at the end of the test, when I turned the car off and then back on, it did the same routine of popping out of D. I used ECO mode mostly because it's easier to modulate the speed.

One small surprise was that the dash SOC% meter matched the the Gidmeter exactly at LBW and VLB (17% and 8% respectively).

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Results:

We drove about 69.2 miles (111.4 km) indicated (the odometer seemed surprisingly accurate compared to the speedometer) until Low Battery Warning (LBW) at 3.9 miles/kWh, and an additional 8 miles (12.9 km) to Very Low Battery (VLB). I determined based on many dozens of previous examples with the 2011 and 2012 LEAF that the car could drive another 4 - 5 miles (6.4 - 8.0 km) until Turtle mode, for a total of 81 - 82 indicated miles of range.

Not surprisingly, 81 miles divided by 3.9 miles per kWh equals 20.76 kWh of battery energy consumed to Turtle.If the car could go 82 miles divided by 3.9 miles per kWh equals 21 kWh of battery energy consumed to Turtle.

If the car had gotten 4.0 miles per kWh of economy, it likely would have made 84 miles.

Conclusion:

There is no more nor any less range with a 2013 LEAF under these conditions that a 2011 or 2012 (when those cars were new with fresh batteries).

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For comparison, a brand new 2012 LEAF-SL was driven on Nov 4, 2012 in Phoenix with only 138 miles on the odometer (and a recent production date) ran a course and parameters in similar weather as the Sept 15, 2012 LEAF Phoenix range autonomy demonstration. The key differences from that test to today's test is that this 2013 LEAF was as much as 200 pounds heavier as tested, the air in San Diego today was slightly more dense, the terrain had substantially larger elevation changes (although both tests started and ended at the same elevation), and the battery was cooler.

It'll be interesting to see whether Nissan updates NTB11-076a (NTB11-076b?) to cover the '13 or if they issue a separate TSB on the same topic just for the '13 and whether the values are different vs. '11/'12.

cwerdna wrote:It'll be interesting to see whether Nissan updates NTB11-076a (NTB11-076b?) to cover the '13 or if they issue a separate TSB on the same topic just for the '13 and whether the values are different vs. '11/'12.

cwerdna wrote:It'll be interesting to see whether Nissan updates NTB11-076a (NTB11-076b?) to cover the '13 or if they issue a separate TSB on the same topic just for the '13 and whether the values are different vs. '11/'12.

Why would they? It doesn't appear there is any measurable difference. When folks get all wound up over 73 EPA and the 2013 75 EPA (or 84 EPA at 100% charge, which appears to be the most correct)... the bottom line is that these are not apples to apples comparisons.

2011-2012 was a two cycle test, and 2013 is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT five cycle test. Driving the car proves they go the same distance.

That's not to say that there won't be a considerable improvement in heater consumption in the SV and SL in cool weather.